Monday, March 27, 2006

my experiment with truth

no! i'm not reviewing gandhi's writing. i had an accident in traffic this morning on the way to work.

something absolutely trivial. i stopped at a traffic light and the guy in the car behind me didn't stop fast enough. resulting in a broken helmet lock which was attached to the rear of my motorcycle.

going with the trend of traffic accidents on the roads in bombay, i guess the guy in the car was expecting an abusive altercation. he seemed very surprised, since i wasn't in the mood for one. i quietly parked the bike on the side of the road, walked up to his window and told him, "it's early in the morning and i'm getting late for work, and i'm sure you are too (considering the hurry you're in), so i don't want to get into a screaming match or a physical confrontation. and to top it all it's a monday morning and a fight would be the completely wrong way to start the week. the broken part costs 150 bucks, pay up and we'll be on our way."

well, he looked like he was having a bad day. he was in such a hurry that he left home without a wallet. the fellow looked truly upset and worked up. he asked me to exchange cellphone numbers, but i refused to call him for the money. i didn't have too much time to waste so i gave him my business card and told him to have the money sent over.

lets see if trust in human nature pays off. if it doesn't, i'll feel very upset that i didn't take the nice tie in his shirt pocket.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

great train robbery

it does sound like something that happened in the last century on a more or less regular basis, so its a little baffling that this would be in the current affairs section of all major newspapers today.

apparently, a bunch of naxalites have taken over a train that was travelling through some of our eastern states.

i don't want to get into the sociological, environmental and cultural reasons that justify the existence of the naxal movement. not in the least the economics of it all.

but from a logical perspective, it seems a little idiotic to highjack a locomotive driven medium of mass-transportation. i can't fathom the reasons for this act, not to mention the exit stratgeies.

it isn't an airplane, so you can't have it flown across the borders to some banana republic. it's a train, so its got to stay on the tracks, which doesn't give you too much leeway. and hence, its ridiculously easy for the establishment to keep track of you.

you better not be counting on recovering expenses by robbing the hapless passengers or your revenue generation plan could go for a toss. with all the low-cost airlines flying people all over the country the ones who actually travel by train are going to be the sorts who can't really be paying you much by way of ransom. needless to say, you won't get too much by picking their pockets either.

its not even very media savvy to hijack a train. even our headline hungry, news starved, 24 hour television channels wouldn't be too excited at the prospect of chasing a runaway locomotive in the eastern states for a soundbite. so if the intention was to call some attention to your woebegone plight in the hinterland, this is not going to be working in a big way.

the worst thing is that with the safety record of the indian railways these hijackers have a good possibility of colliding with some other train, jumping off the rails, getting blown up by bombs placed by other extremists at railway stations that they might pass through, etc.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

half century

it's time to raise the willow and acknowledge the polite handclaps from the pavilion and the stands. this page now has 51 profile views.

awesome! i'm impressed. there obviously is a niche crowd that likes the way i put words together.

i'd like to thank all of you who check in regularly, leave your comments and pass on the good word.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

back to b-school

no it wasn't an attempt to get another mba, rather just an alumni meet at the alma mater. so those of you who have been wondering why i haven't been posting as regularly, theres your answer. it was such an awesome fun experience it took me a few days to get over the trip.

everyone assembled there had such a blast. its difficult explaining to people that a crowd of bankers getting together at their old school could turn into a rocking party.

walking around in the familiar surroundings, meeting faculty and staff, seniors from the industry, batchmates and of course the juniors who are still at campus, all in all a terrific holiday. it turned out into a much needed break for all of us who turned up at campus.

visiting my old room and meeting the guy who stays there now brought back old memories. went through much agony and tension while i was there, trying to cram for exams perpetually while working on assignments with impossible deadlines. am i not glad to have that part of my life behind me? thankfully, looking back now, it was all worth it.

the icing on the cake was that the present batch is much better than the last one that graduated (that would be mine), it makes one feel good about the fact that the future is better for the institute and there are worthy successors.

at the cost of sounding repetitive, i say again that it was great to revisit the site of my greatest victories.